In the first full week of 2025, I’ve found myself being more reflective than usual. Maybe it’s because my personal schedule has changed a little, allowing for more alone time; maybe it’s just that time of the year where I feel like I have to figure out my life immediately… or maybe it’s the desperately rainy weather that’s brought on a bout of deep contemplation. How I got there doesn’t matter — what matters is the realisation I’ve come to: I stopped feeling like a writer in 2024. And that needs to change this year.

It’s not like I stopped writing in 2024 — I did in fact start a new novel and wrote quite a bit of it over the course of the months. But I got so distracted by all the other creative projects I set out to do (though I didn’t finish even half of what I wanted to achieve), writing became more of side project than anything else. Don’t get me wrong — I really enjoyed experimenting with different mediums, trying out new things. It was what I wanted to do in 2024, and I had a great time. But by the end of the year, I looked back and felt like I’d been doing almost everything other than settle down and write the books I’ve been wanting to write.

Cue pause here for a self-indulgent recap video of all the creative projects I worked on last year:

There are still some creative projects from my 2024 creative goals list that I was aiming to complete but never even started on — a hand-drawn animated video set to music, for one. I still want to work on them eventually, so it’s not like I’m giving up on non-writing creative projects entirely. I’d just like to focus more on writing first.

This year, I dug up an old (okay, not so old, I’d just gotten it in the middle of last year) weekly planner and decided it would be a good way to get myself back in the habit of writing. My writing habits were somewhat chaotic last year — there were weeks where I would write almost every day, before I’d get busy with work or my personal life (or games…) and break my streak again. And once I stopped, I found it very hard to start it up again. That’s how some months passed without me writing a word. I don’t want that to happen again, and hopefully using a weekly planner can help me stay on track and organised.

It’s been going well this first week, but we all know how bad I am at sticking with things, so it’s going to take a little more time before I can truly say if it’s working. I’ve been by leaving the planner open on my desk to make it more prominent, so as to force myself into the habit of using it every day. Fingers crossed that this works!

One good thing about using the planner is that it’s helped me to feel more present, more aware of the passage of time. Ever since I took on extra workload at my job last April, the days have been flying by in a blur. Most of the time, I only truly come to myself on the weekends — two short days (that I usually spend working on a creative project) and then it’s back to the grind again. I kept feeling like I was wasting my life, wishing the days away because of how much I wanted the weekends to arrive.

Now, though (granted, it’s only been the first full week and work hasn’t gotten so hectic yet), I find myself looking forward to checking my planner after work and working on the little tasks I’ve set for myself there. I’ve also taken to scribbling notes about what I’ve done or ideas I’ve had for the day in the planner, no matter how small they are. I have a horrible memory when it comes to keeping track of seemingly unimportant tasks; I feel like my brain automatically writes them off and I end up feeling like I’ve barely done anything at the end of the week. Having them recorded down in this way does give me more of a sense of satisfaction — and the realisation that: look, yes, I have gotten some things done. And, oh!, here’s that idea I’d almost forgotten. (Though maybe this just shows that I probably should start a journal or something…)

Writing wise, I’m still working on the (currently 50k-word strong) sequel to the novella I wrote back in 2023: the one I’ve codenamed magic story 2. (Yes, with the emoji.) I’ve gone through this work week with it sitting at the back of my mind at all times. Whenever I have a free moment, I find myself thinking about it. I come up with new details of the world; I ponder what my characters need to do next; I play out upcoming scenes in my head. Even though I still don’t have that much time in a day to write, I’m feeling more connected to my story than I have in a while. I’m starting to feel more like a writer again — and that’s really exciting for me.

I’ve written 5 out of 7 days this week, which is about 2 days less than what I originally planned, but that’s okay. I want to give myself room to relax and start slow. I’ve also been thinking about other things I want to achieve this year (updating this website and writing more blog entries are two of them!), and I’ll work towards checking them off my weekly task list in the planner — one at a time. Let’s go!!